Another summer has flashed by yet again and today, September 1st, Albus Potter found himself at King's Cross Station, running through the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Albus was different this year, and his friends could tell something had changed in him, but they couldn't tell what it was. Sure, he had grown a few inches over the summer making him nearly six feet tall, and he no longer looked so fragile and easy to beat but that wasn't it. Something else changed.
"Albus!" Rose, his cousin shouts and runs to hug him as he emerges into the magical station. "How are you?"
"I'm fine." He lies, returning the hug.
"About what you told me the other day, I'm here for you." She says looking into his emerald green eyes with her chocolate brown ones.
"Not now, Rose." He says with his temper rising ever so slightly. What if someone heard them? What would they think of him now?
Rose was the only one Albus trusted enough to tell what was different about him. She had kept his secret from everyone so far and he appreciated it very much, but he couldn't be sure someone wouldn't over hear them talking about it.
Not long after Albus comes through the barrier, the rest of his family appear as well.
"Lily! James!" Rose greets them both in turn. "Hello Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny."
"Hello Rose!" Her aunt says, hugging her with a warm smile.
As his family is talking to each other, Albus separates himself from the group in search for an empty compartment on the train. The crowd in the station was quite condensed the closer he got to the train and even though she was a Prefect, he wanted to shout and push the frightened and excited first years down.
When he finds a compartment and places his trunk on the shelf, he turns around to walk back to the group he left only moments ago but instead of walking out the compartment doo, he bumps into a friend of his.
"Albus!" the brunette with green eyes and a darker skin tone says breathlessly. "Have you seen Scorpius? Mum and Aunt Nicole are looking for him."
"Hello Valerie. No sorry I haven't seen him. Have you checked the Prefect's compartment? He usually goes in there right away doesn't he? Albus responds.
"Oh right! Thanks!" Valerie answers, running off the other way in search for the boy.
Albus returns to the group on the left hand side of the platform that has grown considerably in number. In addition to his brother, sister and parents, his Aunt Hermione, and Uncle Ron were there too along with their son and his cousin, Hugo. Also Valerie and her parents and the newly found Scorpius and his parents were now in the midst.
The teenagers say their goodbyes as soon as Rose comes back from wherever she went and head up to the compartment Albus claimed earlier. The seven of them squeeze into the tiny space but within ten minutes, the three of them who were Prefects left for the meeting held in the special compartment.
The three Prefects were of course, Albus, Rose and Scorpius. Each of them were Prefects for a different house though. Albus for Gryffindor, Rose for Ravenclaw and Scorpius for Slytherin.
"How was your summer, Scorp? I heard you went to Australia for a month?" Rose asks him, breaking the silence of their walk.
"It was pretty good, Val and her parents went with us." He answers. "How about yours? Did you do anything?"
"No not much. We tried to go camping but my dad didn't like that too much. Reminded him of being on the run, I think."
"Makes sense, that's too bad though. What about you Al?" Scorpius asks, looking at the black haired boy with a glint in his eyes.
"I didn't do much either." He responds, keeping his eyes ahead and his voice steady.
"Albus had a Muggle girlfriend." Rose tells him with a wink.
Albus shoots Rose a look and if they could kill, this one would've done it. "Rose!" Albus hissed.
"Oh really now?" the glint in his eyes were gone now and their blue became ice cold.
"Yes." Albus mumbled, hoping the other two would just be quiet and drop the subject.
"What was she like?" Scorpius persisted.
"Alright I guess... it didn't last long. She could tell I was different."
"That's too bad." He replied, his eyes no longer cold looking. There was definitely something strange about this boy.
Before Albus had the chance to think of what the strangeness was, the three friends arrived at the Prefect's compartment.
Each Prefect had to sit with their partner from their house; Albus sat down next to Angeli, the rather snotty other Gryffindor, Rose sat next to Stephen, a fellow Ravenclaw and Scorpius sat next to Marcy, the other Slytherin.
The head girl and boy, Clara and Damien, enter the compartment moments later and start their discussion. It was the same as last year. The sixth year prefects meet the head boy and girl and then they all go meet the new fifth year Prefect and explain the rules to them. (Prefects have a special bathroom, you cannot remove points from other Prefects, abuse your post and your badge is taken away from you, etc.) Once they all know the rules, they set up a schedule for when each partnership must patrol the hallways.
Looking down at the schedule, Rose notices that this year, Prefects are not partnered with someone from their own house, but with someone from a different house and of the same gender.
"Excuse me, Damien, but why are the pairings different for the sixth years this year?" Rose inquires.
"We felt like switching it up this year." He says with a smile.
Sure enough, Albus hadn't even noticed it was different this year. The schedule looks like this:
Week 1: Rose Weasley, Marcy Mathers
Week 2: Albus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy
Week 3: Angeli Williams, Kayli Hart
Week 4: Stephen Paradise, Andrew Christopher
Repeat every four weeks.
None of the other Prefects had much of a problem with the schedule but for some reason, being alone at night with Scorpius made him uneasy. Even though they were friends, the Slytherin made him uncomfortable.
"What weeks do we start with?" asks a new fifth year.
"For the first month, two pairs from only the sixth year will be patrolling each week. This week will be Rose, Marcy, Albus, and Scorpius. Then the next week, the two remaining pairs will patrol then repeat for the next two weeks. After that, everything will be normal." Replies Clara.
"What about Quiddich practices though? If we patrol for a week, how we can get practices in?" asks, Kayli, the new Hufflepuff captain.
"That's where we come in" replies Clara, pointing at her and Damien. "You can ask one of us to take your shift for a night or two if absolutely necessary. Do not make it a habit."
"Oh good. I thought I was going to have to cancel practice for a week every month!" Kayli replies.
"So is everyone clear on what being a prefect requires and what you have to do?" Asks Damien.
"Yes." Everyone replied at different times, some nodding as well.
"Great! Off you go." He says and everyone filters out of the cramped compartment.
As the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and the Slytherin leave together, Scorpius smirks to himself.
"What are you smirking about?" Rose asks, nudging him in the ribs.
"Oh nothing. I think I'm going to sit with some friends from m house, okay?" he answers.
"Sure, have fun." Rose answers, walking on.
"See you tonight for patrolling. The blonde says to Albus with a wink. He then left, leaving Albus rooted to the spot with a weird feeling in his stomach.